Gautam Gambhir Biography

Gautam Gambhir was all set to become a domestic bully who scored runs by the dozens against Test sides in tour matches but failed at the highest level when he had suddenly decided to perform otherwise.

There were times in his early days when Gambhir had inspired confidence, but then walked into ruts off inconsistency. He was axed from the squad ahead of the 2007 World Cup, something that had jolted him. However, that was to push him to become one of India’s most reliable batsmen in the years to come.

During India’s victorious campaign at the ICC World T20 2007, Gambhir emerged as the leading run-scorer for his country, which included a potentially match-winning effort of 75 against Pakistan in the final. In the tri-series Down Under in early 2008, he smashed two tons as India lifted the competition.

Those performances paved the way into the Test side and from late 2008 to early 2010 he saw a phenomenal run of success. In that period, he smashed nine tons, which included an epic match-saving effort at Napier, and the then record of fifties in 11 consecutive Tests. He also won the ICC Test Player of Year Award in 2009.

Gambhir was a fixture for India in all formats and even captained India in a few ODIs in 2010. He put some fine performances in the 2011 World Cup, of which 97 against Sri Lanka in the final reigns supreme.

Unfortunately, his performances dipped and he was axed from the side in early 2013 — a year after he had led Kolkata Knight Riders to their maiden Indian Premier League title the previous year.